Some umpires may boycott this weekend?s league cricket games because of ongoing anger over their controversial Cup Match snub.

Bermuda Umpires Association secretary Randy Butler said yesterday he ?could not rule out? the possibility that the penultimate round of 50-over matches on Sunday would be affected by an umpire shortage ? although he stopped short of saying they intended to engage in a formal strike.

Butler also revealed the BUA were seeking a meeting with Bermuda Cricket Board before the weekend for clear-the-air talks, insisting they are ?owed an explanation? for the manner in which the process was handled.

The first inkling that something was in the air came on Sunday, when the two BCB-appointed umpires failed to turn up for the Colts Cup Match at Wellington Oval.

And at a special meeting of the BUA on the same day, Butler said many members expressed their ?anger and frustration? over the behaviour of the two Cup Match clubs in the lead-up to the classic.

They believe that a letter sent to Somerset and St. George?s on July 19 ? informing them that the BUA would not be submitting a shortlist of candidates for Cup Match until there had been a meeting to discuss an official code of conduct and the possibility of a match referee ? was deliberately misinterpreted by the clubs to allow them to pursue their own agenda.

St. George?s president Neil Paynter and his Somerset counterpart Richard Scott both insisted last week that the BUA had simply refused to provide any umpires for the match in their letter ? something Butler vehemently denies.

A copy of the July 19 letter has been obtained by and corroborates the BUA?s version of events.

And though it was the clubs who were responsible for flying in overseas umpires David Shepherd and Mervyn Kitchen, the umpires were also unhappy with the ?lack of communication? from the BCB regarding the appointment of match referee Clive Lloyd.

?I am not surprised in the slightest that whoever was appointed to do Colts Cup Match decided to take the weekend off in light of what happened,? Butler said.

?We had a meeting on Sunday and it was decided to request a further meeting with the BCB in order to clear the air and put across our point of view.

?How we proceed from here I guess will depend on how that meeting goes. We feel we were left completely out of the loop throughout the whole process by both the clubs and the BCB.

?We wrote to the clubs requesting a meeting before we submitted a shortlist of umpires available for Cup Match, but that meeting never happened. And then all of a sudden they were saying we had told them we were not going to provide any umpires at all, which was completely untrue.

?All we wanted was to discuss ways in which the game could be improved as a result of the trouble last year, and as it turned out the things we were going to ask for like a match referee and a code of conduct were in place for the game ? so we would have had no problem submitting a shortlist.

?This whole thing has caused quite a bit of anger among our members and we feel we are owed an explanation. Don?t get me wrong. I was at Cup Match for both days and we all have a a lot of respect for both David Shepherd and Mervyn Kitchen who I think did an excellent job. We are just not happy with the way the process was handled.

?As it stands we are not looking at going down the route of a strike or anything like that, but again I would not be surprised if some guys decide to take the rest of the season off or do other things this weekend.?

A BCB spokesman said last night that there had been some ?miscommunication? with regards to Colts Cup Match and that they would be meeting with the umpires shortly ?to deal with all outstanding issues.?